Learning to play hockey requires the use of many physical skills. All hockey players must be able to control the hockey puck (or ball) while skating (or running). A goalie hockey player must control the puck, skate (often backwards), and stop the puck from being shot into the net. To stop the puck from being shot into the net, the goalie wears pads on his legs, protective padding on his body, gloves on his hands, and a helmet on his head. In order to effectively stop the puck, the goalie needs to learn to position himself correctly between the shooter and the net and he needs to learn how to make leg saves, glove saves, and stick saves. Each of these saves requires the goalie to learn physical maneuvers of different body parts that are typically not instinctive. The goalie must condition himself to perform these saves automatically because he will not have time to think about which physical maneuvers should be performed when the puck is being shot at him.
For the stick save, proper hand and finger placement is critical for stopping the puck from going into the net. The goalie stick is different from a regular hockey stick in a number of ways. The blade is larger and extends up the shaft of the stick for approximately two feet to form the paddle. The goalie holds the shaft of the hockey stick with one hand just above the paddle and extends his index finger of that hand down the paddle. This hand placement is important because the blade of the stick must lie on the ice at an angle that keeps the puck from rolling over the blade and into the net. The hand placement with the index finger extended down the paddle allows the goalie to stabilize the stick and have enough control of the stick to stop the puck rather than have the blade pushed back by the puck hitting it and then the puck rolling under the stick into the net. Additionally, the hand placement with the index finger extended down the paddle allows the goalie to more easily guide the puck away from the net and into the corner of the rink so as to minimize rebound shots in which the goalie may be out of position.
For novice goalies the hand placement above the paddle with the index fingers extended down the paddle is not easily mastered. It is more intuitive to wrap the index finger around the shaft of the hockey stick like the other fingers. In addition, the goalie's blocker covers the hand holding the stick so if the novice goalie is not extending his index finger down the paddle it is not easily detected by his coach and may therefore not be corrected. It is desirable to have a training device that teaches the proper hand position and reminds the novice goalie to extend his index finger down the paddle of his hockey stick. Hockey regulations require the training device to be removed for game situations, but if the novice goalie uses the training device regularly during practice the finger placement will become automatic even when the training device is removed from the hockey stick.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a goalie training device that would hold the index finger in the proper position extended down the paddle of the goalie hockey stick.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a goalie training device that is easily attached to and removed from the hockey stick.